Is your issue with the headline (which doesn’t seem to be rooted in the piece) or the idea of the government trying to raise minority academic achievement to that of whites?

It's not minorities. Asian kids are well ahead.

Did you read the article?

Yesterday. leftist guardian fluff. If they took each ethnic group on their own they may not have the same remit to start these "programs" for affirmative action. Another case of skewing the results of your study in a way that justifies your agenda.

Its pretty well known that Asian kids do better at school and college than any other group. There was a massive stink at Harvard in recent times where Asians were discriminated against. In any situation it should be only those who perform best that get the places.

Paul Durcan back training with Donegal, after a 4 year absense working abroad.

Not sure how I feel about this.

IF he can get back to where he was four years ago, he'd definitely be a vital weapon for us with those kick-outs and overall goalkeeping. We are struggling in the middle of the field though, so will it help that much? Patton wasn't too bad, for the most part, last year. A big improvement on McGinley the previous season anyway.

Is your issue with the headline (which doesn’t seem to be rooted in the piece) or the idea of the government trying to raise minority academic achievement to that of whites?

It's not minorities. Asian kids are well ahead.

Did you read the article?

Yesterday. leftist guardian fluff. If they took each ethnic group on their own they may not have the same remit to start these "programs" for affirmative action. Another case of skewing the results of your study in a way that justifies your agenda.

Its pretty well known that Asian kids do better at school and college than any other group. There was a massive stink at Harvard in recent times where Asians were discriminated against. In any situation it should be only those who perform best that get the places.

Is your issue with the headline (which doesn’t seem to be rooted in the piece) or the idea of the government trying to raise minority academic achievement to that of whites?

It's not minorities. Asian kids are well ahead.

Did you read the article?

Yesterday. leftist guardian fluff. If they took each ethnic group on their own they may not have the same remit to start these "programs" for affirmative action. Another case of skewing the results of your study in a way that justifies your agenda.

Its pretty well known that Asian kids do better at school and college than any other group. There was a massive stink at Harvard in recent times where Asians were discriminated against. In any situation it should be only those who perform best that get the places.

Is your issue with the headline (which doesn’t seem to be rooted in the piece) or the idea of the government trying to raise minority academic achievement to that of whites?

It's not minorities. Asian kids are well ahead.

Did you read the article?

Yesterday. leftist guardian fluff. If they took each ethnic group on their own they may not have the same remit to start these "programs" for affirmative action. Another case of skewing the results of your study in a way that justifies your agenda.

Its pretty well known that Asian kids do better at school and college than any other group. There was a massive stink at Harvard in recent times where Asians were discriminated against. In any situation it should be only those who perform best that get the places.

Arra musha Jesus Christ Bunker. I hope Parke win the Intermediate championship this year to cheer you up a bit. Seriously.

Anyway, Clucko, MDMA, Philly, Kev McM are 2 years older than 2017 too. I'm not yet convinced the players coming through are quite as good. Cue the Dubs such as The Greatest lecturing me about certain underage panels hammering the shite out of everyone.

My brother has a lad on Dublin development U15 panel, and last year they beat Offaly by some ridiculous score, 15-10 to 0-2 , or something along those lines. Scary stuff. But Kilmacud Crokes probably have as a big a pick as Offaly these days.

Given the numbers and the efforts by the (volunteer!) coaches, Dublin seriously underachieve at minor. Thankfully really! I think it’s probably down to not having a settled line up until just before. It’s very hard to predict what the minor team will be prior to the first championship game, because of the large pick. I honestly never much care about minor All Irelands, unless i’ve a clubman on the team. For me, the most important, is the couple of lads each year who might improve the senior team.

With all the threads about the Dubs, it is funny that there’s never any talk on the board about what other counties can do to copy Kerry. Their recent minor success is absolutely amazing. What can other counties do to try and replicate it?God almighty, imagine the crying if Dubs were achieving at minor!

I'm hesitant to get involved in this (not informed enough), but is the worry of many NOT that there is likely no end to the dominance of Dublin? At least with the Kerry 70s/80s team, they had an extraordinary group of talented players, but it was the same core group all the way through, who then got old together, leading to the disappearance of Kerry from the top end for more than a decade. Dublin appear to have an endless conveyor belt of highly talented players (whatever the cause) coming through and obviously the fear is that, with the ever-growing population advantage (allied to the funding in some people's eyes), they are going to be entrenched as far and away the best side in the country for years to come.

Lets say Dublin do win five in a row, then maybe even six or seven, and on an ongoing basis seven or eight of the next ten All Irelands (assuming some other county brings through a top class group now and again, as Kerry might currently be developing), all the while continuing to hoover up meaningless Leinster titles without breaking a sweat, what's the long term effect of that? At what point does the splitting up of Dublin, assuming things continue on their current trajectory, become a serious consideration? Or does it ever?

Dublin's current "conveyor belt" of talent isn't any different to that of other successful teams of the past. The great Kerry team of 1975 morphed through many iterations between '75 and '86. Great players who joined after 1975 included Charlie Nelligan, Eoin Liston, Jack O’Shea, Ambrose O’Donovan and others.

The great Dublin team of the 1970s which competed in six All Ireland finals in a row was rebuilt in the early 80s and won the AI title in 1983. The 1983 team was backboned by the AI minor winners of 1979 and 1982 - with stars like John O'Leary, Barney Rock, Joe McNalley and Kieran Duff arriving on the scene. And talking about conveyor belts, as well as winning minor in '79 and '82, Dublin also won in '84 with young stars like Jimmy Stynes and Paul Clarke

Ah here... Liston was on board for their second win in '78, Nelligan and O'Shea the year before. The vast bulk of that Kerry team moved through the years together as a group, same as most successful teams. Whereas key Dublin players over the past eight years have been seamlessly replaced with arguably even better players in some cases. Obviously it remains to be seen what will happen over the next few years, but if the high standards are maintained, despite turnover, and the Dubs continue to dominant completely and utterly, breaking records at all levels of the senior championship, when, if ever, does it become time to question it?

Dublin had a "conveyor belt" going in the late 70s and early 80's - All Ireland minor titles in '79, '82 and '84. All Ireland senior title in 1983 and runners up in '84 and '85 and all that after three senior titles in the 70s. No one was talking about a Dublin Thousand Year Reich then. That was mainly because there was a Kerry team that could compete.

If either or both of the two finals against Mayo had gone the other way (as they could easly have done) would this conversation be going on now?

That's the whole point, isn't it?

Is the current conveyor belt REALLY equivalent to that late 70s/early 80s one? Is it going to dry up, in terms of elite national level, like that one did?

As for Mayo, they put it up to Donegal in the final in 2012 as well, but yet again, just not good enough on the day when the chips were down. The Dubs had the players to stand up or bring in to swing things their way. Mayo didn't.

And even if Mayo (singularly) matched up fairly well with Dublin, despite always falling short, it doesn't take away from the whole issue. Mayo lose to other teams. Dublin have been caught out once by a tactical masterclass by Jim McGuinness over the past six seasons. A game which no one saw coming and which never happened again.

The only other championship game they've lost since 2010 was the 2012 semi to Mayo, when they were again caught out yet nearly pulled it out.

That's two games over eight seasons you've had to taste defeat.

But that's the past.

My question is, if it keeps going like this for the next four five years, easy win after easy win, with maybe a tough-won AI final thrown in (or even one lost due to a poor day out), will you lads be happy with that and keep turning out?

Arra musha Jesus Christ Bunker. I hope Parke win the Intermediate championship this year to cheer you up a bit. Seriously.

Anyway, Clucko, MDMA, Philly, Kev McM are 2 years older than 2017 too. I'm not yet convinced the players coming through are quite as good. Cue the Dubs such as The Greatest lecturing me about certain underage panels hammering the shite out of everyone.

My brother has a lad on Dublin development U15 panel, and last year they beat Offaly by some ridiculous score, 15-10 to 0-2 , or something along those lines. Scary stuff. But Kilmacud Crokes probably have as a big a pick as Offaly these days.

Given the numbers and the efforts by the (volunteer!) coaches, Dublin seriously underachieve at minor. Thankfully really! I think it’s probably down to not having a settled line up until just before. It’s very hard to predict what the minor team will be prior to the first championship game, because of the large pick. I honestly never much care about minor All Irelands, unless i’ve a clubman on the team. For me, the most important, is the couple of lads each year who might improve the senior team.

With all the threads about the Dubs, it is funny that there’s never any talk on the board about what other counties can do to copy Kerry. Their recent minor success is absolutely amazing. What can other counties do to try and replicate it?God almighty, imagine the crying if Dubs were achieving at minor!

I'm hesitant to get involved in this (not informed enough), but is the worry of many NOT that there is likely no end to the dominance of Dublin? At least with the Kerry 70s/80s team, they had an extraordinary group of talented players, but it was the same core group all the way through, who then got old together, leading to the disappearance of Kerry from the top end for more than a decade. Dublin appear to have an endless conveyor belt of highly talented players (whatever the cause) coming through and obviously the fear is that, with the ever-growing population advantage (allied to the funding in some people's eyes), they are going to be entrenched as far and away the best side in the country for years to come.

Lets say Dublin do win five in a row, then maybe even six or seven, and on an ongoing basis seven or eight of the next ten All Irelands (assuming some other county brings through a top class group now and again, as Kerry might currently be developing), all the while continuing to hoover up meaningless Leinster titles without breaking a sweat, what's the long term effect of that? At what point does the splitting up of Dublin, assuming things continue on their current trajectory, become a serious consideration? Or does it ever?

Dublin's current "conveyor belt" of talent isn't any different to that of other successful teams of the past. The great Kerry team of 1975 morphed through many iterations between '75 and '86. Great players who joined after 1975 included Charlie Nelligan, Eoin Liston, Jack O’Shea, Ambrose O’Donovan and others.

The great Dublin team of the 1970s which competed in six All Ireland finals in a row was rebuilt in the early 80s and won the AI title in 1983. The 1983 team was backboned by the AI minor winners of 1979 and 1982 - with stars like John O'Leary, Barney Rock, Joe McNalley and Kieran Duff arriving on the scene. And talking about conveyor belts, as well as winning minor in '79 and '82, Dublin also won in '84 with young stars like Jimmy Stynes and Paul Clarke

Ah here... Liston was on board for their second win in '78, Nelligan and O'Shea the year before. The vast bulk of that Kerry team moved through the years together as a group, same as most successful teams. Whereas key Dublin players over the past eight years have been seamlessly replaced with arguably even better players in some cases. Obviously it remains to be seen what will happen over the next few years, but if the high standards are maintained, despite turnover, and the Dubs continue to dominant completely and utterly, breaking records at all levels of the senior championship, when, if ever, does it become time to question it?

Are you taking the piss now?

No.

Will you be content as a Dub to continue strolling through Leinster every year and the All Ireland most years?

Do I want to see my team win?

We being serious?

Yes.

Do you really, honestly give a bollocks about the Leinster senior championship right now? Will your hair stand on end as Dean Rock slots over another free to put you 10 or 12 points up in the final?

Arra musha Jesus Christ Bunker. I hope Parke win the Intermediate championship this year to cheer you up a bit. Seriously.

Anyway, Clucko, MDMA, Philly, Kev McM are 2 years older than 2017 too. I'm not yet convinced the players coming through are quite as good. Cue the Dubs such as The Greatest lecturing me about certain underage panels hammering the shite out of everyone.

My brother has a lad on Dublin development U15 panel, and last year they beat Offaly by some ridiculous score, 15-10 to 0-2 , or something along those lines. Scary stuff. But Kilmacud Crokes probably have as a big a pick as Offaly these days.

Given the numbers and the efforts by the (volunteer!) coaches, Dublin seriously underachieve at minor. Thankfully really! I think it’s probably down to not having a settled line up until just before. It’s very hard to predict what the minor team will be prior to the first championship game, because of the large pick. I honestly never much care about minor All Irelands, unless i’ve a clubman on the team. For me, the most important, is the couple of lads each year who might improve the senior team.

With all the threads about the Dubs, it is funny that there’s never any talk on the board about what other counties can do to copy Kerry. Their recent minor success is absolutely amazing. What can other counties do to try and replicate it?God almighty, imagine the crying if Dubs were achieving at minor!

I'm hesitant to get involved in this (not informed enough), but is the worry of many NOT that there is likely no end to the dominance of Dublin? At least with the Kerry 70s/80s team, they had an extraordinary group of talented players, but it was the same core group all the way through, who then got old together, leading to the disappearance of Kerry from the top end for more than a decade. Dublin appear to have an endless conveyor belt of highly talented players (whatever the cause) coming through and obviously the fear is that, with the ever-growing population advantage (allied to the funding in some people's eyes), they are going to be entrenched as far and away the best side in the country for years to come.

Lets say Dublin do win five in a row, then maybe even six or seven, and on an ongoing basis seven or eight of the next ten All Irelands (assuming some other county brings through a top class group now and again, as Kerry might currently be developing), all the while continuing to hoover up meaningless Leinster titles without breaking a sweat, what's the long term effect of that? At what point does the splitting up of Dublin, assuming things continue on their current trajectory, become a serious consideration? Or does it ever?

Dublin's current "conveyor belt" of talent isn't any different to that of other successful teams of the past. The great Kerry team of 1975 morphed through many iterations between '75 and '86. Great players who joined after 1975 included Charlie Nelligan, Eoin Liston, Jack O’Shea, Ambrose O’Donovan and others.

The great Dublin team of the 1970s which competed in six All Ireland finals in a row was rebuilt in the early 80s and won the AI title in 1983. The 1983 team was backboned by the AI minor winners of 1979 and 1982 - with stars like John O'Leary, Barney Rock, Joe McNalley and Kieran Duff arriving on the scene. And talking about conveyor belts, as well as winning minor in '79 and '82, Dublin also won in '84 with young stars like Jimmy Stynes and Paul Clarke

Ah here... Liston was on board for their second win in '78, Nelligan and O'Shea the year before. The vast bulk of that Kerry team moved through the years together as a group, same as most successful teams. Whereas key Dublin players over the past eight years have been seamlessly replaced with arguably even better players in some cases. Obviously it remains to be seen what will happen over the next few years, but if the high standards are maintained, despite turnover, and the Dubs continue to dominant completely and utterly, breaking records at all levels of the senior championship, when, if ever, does it become time to question it?

Are you taking the piss now?

No.

Will you be content as a Dub to continue strolling through Leinster every year and the All Ireland most years?

Arra musha Jesus Christ Bunker. I hope Parke win the Intermediate championship this year to cheer you up a bit. Seriously.

Anyway, Clucko, MDMA, Philly, Kev McM are 2 years older than 2017 too. I'm not yet convinced the players coming through are quite as good. Cue the Dubs such as The Greatest lecturing me about certain underage panels hammering the shite out of everyone.

My brother has a lad on Dublin development U15 panel, and last year they beat Offaly by some ridiculous score, 15-10 to 0-2 , or something along those lines. Scary stuff. But Kilmacud Crokes probably have as a big a pick as Offaly these days.

Given the numbers and the efforts by the (volunteer!) coaches, Dublin seriously underachieve at minor. Thankfully really! I think it’s probably down to not having a settled line up until just before. It’s very hard to predict what the minor team will be prior to the first championship game, because of the large pick. I honestly never much care about minor All Irelands, unless i’ve a clubman on the team. For me, the most important, is the couple of lads each year who might improve the senior team.

With all the threads about the Dubs, it is funny that there’s never any talk on the board about what other counties can do to copy Kerry. Their recent minor success is absolutely amazing. What can other counties do to try and replicate it?God almighty, imagine the crying if Dubs were achieving at minor!

I'm hesitant to get involved in this (not informed enough), but is the worry of many NOT that there is likely no end to the dominance of Dublin? At least with the Kerry 70s/80s team, they had an extraordinary group of talented players, but it was the same core group all the way through, who then got old together, leading to the disappearance of Kerry from the top end for more than a decade. Dublin appear to have an endless conveyor belt of highly talented players (whatever the cause) coming through and obviously the fear is that, with the ever-growing population advantage (allied to the funding in some people's eyes), they are going to be entrenched as far and away the best side in the country for years to come.

Lets say Dublin do win five in a row, then maybe even six or seven, and on an ongoing basis seven or eight of the next ten All Irelands (assuming some other county brings through a top class group now and again, as Kerry might currently be developing), all the while continuing to hoover up meaningless Leinster titles without breaking a sweat, what's the long term effect of that? At what point does the splitting up of Dublin, assuming things continue on their current trajectory, become a serious consideration? Or does it ever?

Dublin's current "conveyor belt" of talent isn't any different to that of other successful teams of the past. The great Kerry team of 1975 morphed through many iterations between '75 and '86. Great players who joined after 1975 included Charlie Nelligan, Eoin Liston, Jack O’Shea, Ambrose O’Donovan and others.

The great Dublin team of the 1970s which competed in six All Ireland finals in a row was rebuilt in the early 80s and won the AI title in 1983. The 1983 team was backboned by the AI minor winners of 1979 and 1982 - with stars like John O'Leary, Barney Rock, Joe McNalley and Kieran Duff arriving on the scene. And talking about conveyor belts, as well as winning minor in '79 and '82, Dublin also won in '84 with young stars like Jimmy Stynes and Paul Clarke

Ah here... Liston was on board for their second win in '78, Nelligan and O'Shea the year before. The vast bulk of that Kerry team moved through the years together as a group, same as most successful teams. Whereas key Dublin players over the past eight years have been seamlessly replaced with arguably even better players in some cases. Obviously it remains to be seen what will happen over the next few years, but if the high standards are maintained, despite turnover, and the Dubs continue to dominant completely and utterly, breaking records at all levels of the senior championship, when, if ever, does it become time to question it?

Arra musha Jesus Christ Bunker. I hope Parke win the Intermediate championship this year to cheer you up a bit. Seriously.

Anyway, Clucko, MDMA, Philly, Kev McM are 2 years older than 2017 too. I'm not yet convinced the players coming through are quite as good. Cue the Dubs such as The Greatest lecturing me about certain underage panels hammering the shite out of everyone.

My brother has a lad on Dublin development U15 panel, and last year they beat Offaly by some ridiculous score, 15-10 to 0-2 , or something along those lines. Scary stuff. But Kilmacud Crokes probably have as a big a pick as Offaly these days.

Given the numbers and the efforts by the (volunteer!) coaches, Dublin seriously underachieve at minor. Thankfully really! I think it’s probably down to not having a settled line up until just before. It’s very hard to predict what the minor team will be prior to the first championship game, because of the large pick. I honestly never much care about minor All Irelands, unless i’ve a clubman on the team. For me, the most important, is the couple of lads each year who might improve the senior team.

With all the threads about the Dubs, it is funny that there’s never any talk on the board about what other counties can do to copy Kerry. Their recent minor success is absolutely amazing. What can other counties do to try and replicate it?God almighty, imagine the crying if Dubs were achieving at minor!

I'm hesitant to get involved in this (not informed enough), but is the worry of many NOT that there is likely no end to the dominance of Dublin? At least with the Kerry 70s/80s team, they had an extraordinary group of talented players, but it was the same core group all the way through, who then got old together, leading to the disappearance of Kerry from the top end for more than a decade. Dublin appear to have an endless conveyor belt of highly talented players (whatever the cause) coming through and obviously the fear is that, with the ever-growing population advantage (allied to the funding in some people's eyes), they are going to be entrenched as far and away the best side in the country for years to come.

Lets say Dublin do win five in a row, then maybe even six or seven, and on an ongoing basis seven or eight of the next ten All Irelands (assuming some other county brings through a top class group now and again, as Kerry might currently be developing), all the while continuing to hoover up meaningless Leinster titles without breaking a sweat, what's the long term effect of that? At what point does the splitting up of Dublin, assuming things continue on their current trajectory, become a serious consideration? Or does it ever?

He’s exciting, he’s pacy, he’s energetic. He gets into good positions but doesn’t always deliver. He can run into cul de sacs, he can lose the ball in dangerous positions. A ball rolled out to him outside the box on the left hand side, super position for a right footed strike, and he blazed it high and wide. Very poor effort from a guy who hits free kicks.

He definitely has potential to reach the heights the British media have already given him, but he’s a long away to go. I think he’d make a great midfielder if he got a run of 5 or 6 games there, but we need him more at right back.

But I’ve no doubt that OGS will identify him as our weak link and target him on Sunday. I’d be very surprised if Rashford is not plopped on their left wing. So opportunity for Trent to show he’s improving.

Mourinho did it last year and they got 2 goals from his side.

A lot of that blame has to go to Lovren, however, who was bullied by Lukaku in the lead-up to both.

Liverpool have a horrible recent record at Old Trafford. I'd be happy to take a point from this.

No matter how much hurling and football is played in 12 months it's always 4 familiar names on 17th march Fair play - on paper it should be 2 cracking games The football final has the potential of making us believe in the big ball game once more !!

Club is much more open than county

Teams from Carlow, Antrim, Roscommon and Wicklow have won the football

Teams from Antrim and Dublin have won the hurling

Even teams from Galway have won it, hardly a hot spot of the GAA

Brigids was great. I was in Athlone the month after and all the posters were still up

The players had a few pints too. Where was Davy Brady?

Was an attention seeking response from this balloon..

Amateur sportsmen celebrating winning an Ulster championship.... If they had have stayed off the booze right from the start of the season there would have been no guarantees they'd have won their own title never mind the Ulster title..Corofin more than likely would have won the game, thats why the bookies had them favs not because they heard that the Donegal men were still on the sauce.

The Corofin lads after winning their title would have also had a few drinks, but they are a different animal, they've been there before and have been conditioned to expect to be chasing the major prize every season, Cassidy team has enough in their locker to be back next year, as do the teams they bate to get there..

They'll be able to take stock and see where they can improve next time, but it won't be down to having some drinks

No guarantees for Gaoth Dobhair. No Donegal club has dominated in recent years.

Plus, its unlikely Kilcar will be lining out for the championship without Patrick McBrearty and Ryan McHugh again.

That said, I would expect to see both in the final four, at least, draw depending.

The issue I have is that anyone who even dared question Smolletts story was accused of participating in a modern day lynching by the beautiful people.

Think about it for a moment. 2 Donald Trump supporters roaming the streets of Chicago at 2 am on a night when it was -20 degrees. They somehow just happened to have a noose and a bottle of bleach when they happened to run into an actor that most people had never heard of, and recognized him as “that n1&&er f@bbot from Empire. “. When interviewed an hour or so later Smollett was still wearing the noose.

The whole thing was a joke

All sides get up in this shit. The right with their false flags and utter denial that anyone on their side is capable of violence or other acts borne out of bigotry (just think back a couple of months to the headtheball down in Florida shipping the letter bombs to Dem leaders the week before the election). The left with their do-not-dare-question anyone who claims to be a victim of such an act.

It would be nice if people would wait a minute for investigations to be conducted (or even started) by the authorities before piling on, from whatever perspective, with little information to go on.

But, this is the age of twitter and who can be more outraged. Then, 24 hours later, they've all moved to the next story.

I'd never heard of Smolletts before this either. If it is true it was a set-up by himself, his career is over. And he should face the full force of the law.